Turning Tables
by alyseci5
Summary: It was all Connor's doing, of course.  Becker/Jess


**Pairing:**Becker/Jess

**Spoilers:**Set during series 4 but no specific spoilers

**Disclaimer:** Primeval and its characters belong to Impossible Pictures. No copyright infringement is intended. This is fanfiction, written solely for love of the show.

**Author's Notes:** Written for morrigans_eve's request of Becker/Jess and 'I'll catch you when you fall' for my **kissbingo **card square 'body: nose'.

-o-

"I really don't think that table looks all that steady."

Becker closes his eyes briefly and tries not to think about how the table in question is shaking under his feet. "Thank you, Captain Obvious," he says, trying not to snap. Jess is just trying to be helpful in her own unique Jessica type way.

"Maybe we should log a call with Estates instead," she frets, and Becker can hear everything in her voice that she isn't saying, all of the things that she's keeping back to be tactful. "So you don't break your neck. I'd never forgive myself if you did, you know?"

"I'm not going to break my neck, Jess." Although injuring his pride might still be an option, he thinks as he strains forward, trying to wrap his fingers around the light bulb that, annoyingly, remains just out of reach. He stretches further and further still, ignoring both the way that the table wobbles underneath him and Jess hovering at the edge of his field of vision, wobbling worriedly herself. He finally snags hold of the bulb with his fingertips, but it's still hot and he hisses, pulling his fingers back abruptly and sticking them in his mouth to soothe the scorched tips. He ignores Jess's little shuffle closer. "Remind me again how you managed to blow the bulb?"

"Well, it was all Connor's doing, really." Of course it was. "I did tell him that it wasn't a good idea to patch the upgraded power module straight into the detector without taking it off-line first, but of course he wasn't going to listen to me, was he?"

"And you blew the bulb?"

"Yes, that's how **Connor **blew the bulb," she says, her voice bright and pointedly perky, and Becker sighs, trying very hard not to let her see. "Connor may not have expected it, but I've got to say that it wasn't really a surprise to me."

"Frankly," he says dryly, "I'm surprised the bulb is all that the pair of you managed to blow up."

Jess pouts, giving him a cross little look. Of course, the effect is more or less ruined by the combination of the green embroidered cardigan and bright pink skirt she's wearing. She looks like the world's most hyper, upside down daisy. Not exactly the most terrifying of sights that Becker's ever seen.

He turns slowly back towards the light bulb, freezing when the table wobbles ominously underneath his feet.

"Don't fall," Jess offers helpfully, and Becker doesn't even try to hold in the heartfelt sigh this time.

"I'm not going to fall," he explains patiently, hoping she hasn't spotted just how still he's staying. No point in taking any chances, after all.

"If you do fall," she says, her voice brisk and businesslike, "I'll just have to catch you, won't I?"

He turns his head slowly in her direction, taking in her bright eyes and her equally bright smile. She's tiny - he's always surprised by just how small she is, because her bubbly personality takes up so much room. It's astounding how little body actually contains it when he stops to think about it.

"Don't even try," he snaps. "I'm pretty sure I'd squash you flat."

Jess's smile turns wicked, and he knows - just knows - that she's about to make some remark about his weight on her last night, or something equally flirty and dirty, and he's too damned old to be blushing, at least at work.

But the smile decides things for him, and he gives in, jumping gingerly down off the table, which thankfully doesn't collapse under his weight at the last moment.

"Okay, call Estates," he concedes, willing to admit defeat on this one, at least as long as it means that Jess doesn't end up as flat as a pancake.

"I already have." The words are breezy and Jess's smile doesn't even dim in the face of Becker's not-really-heated-considering glare. "They said they'd be along sometime this afternoon, which probably means sometime next Wednesday."

"If you called Estates, why did you ask me...?" She grins up at him, unrepentant, and her eyes dance merrily. Oh, sometimes she's just **impossible**.

"Never mind," she says, as cheerfully as always. She wraps her arms around his waist. "It wasn't a wasted trip. I'm just glad I had you here to rush to my rescue. I mean, what on earth would I have done all afternoon, stuck in the dark on my own?"

It's morning and it's not exactly pitch black in here, and Becker is **not** going to be mollified by the impish smile Jess gives him or the way she turns her face up for a kiss. Her eyes are closed as she waits, but the dimples at the corner of her mouth still speak volumes as to her amusement.

"**You**," he says pointedly, tapping the end of her irresistible nose, "are just incorrigible. And I have things to do, so you'll just have to play by yourself for a while."

She opens her eyes to stare up at him, and pouts for a second. But then her eyes sparkle, a little twinkle in them as she opens her mouth. Becker just knows that the next words she says will be about the many, **many** ways she could interpret 'playing by herself'.

For someone who gives every appearance of being sweet and demure, Jess has the mouth of a docker and the imagination to match.

He places his finger firmly against her lips before she can say anything, and presses a kiss on the very end of her sweet little button nose instead.

"Behave yourself," he says, mock severely. "And maybe I'll play with you later."

The end


End file.
